Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to motorized vehicles, and, more particularly, relates to recreational four-wheel drive vehicles, and, with greater particularity, relates to such vehicles using V-twin engines having a displacement from about 1000 cc to about 1500 cc.
Description of the Prior Art
All-terrain vehicles or off-the-road vehicles or utility vehicle, or recreational vehicles like such have captured the interest of the weekend vehicle enthusiasts. These vehicles come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, models, styles from a simple go-kart to v-8 powered sand dune buggies. The basic construction features involve a chassis and a drive train.
Go-karts come in several models. One model is especially designed for racing on tracks. These go-karts normally have a low center of gravity, no wheel suspension, no roll cage and usually a two-cycle, high performance engine from 100 to 200 cc; go-karts for dirt tracks typically have roll cages and have a high center of gravity with larger wheels. Other engines used may be four-cycle and even Wankel style rotary engines. Typical go-karts have a single seat that may be positioned for different types of racing venues. U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,727 is directed at a direct-drive racing go-kart using a Wankel style engine, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,039 is directed at a caged go-kart being approximately 24 by 50 inches in size designed to be shipped by mail. Some examples of typical go-karts are sold by Baja Motorsports® through Pep Boys Auto® under the name of “Trax Go-Kart,” having two seats and large off-road tires. Another model is the “Blaster Go-Kart” with a 6.5 HP engine with larger off-road tires. A still larger and more featured model is the “Reaction 150 cc Go-Kart” with a 150 cc, 4-stroke, 9.2 HP engine. All of these models have a cage roll bar system.
Another type of recreational vehicle is the all-terrain vehicle (ATV). This type of vehicle is especially suited for off-road use in rough terrain. The ATV has four large tires, four-wheel drive, usually with single cylinders engine of less than about 20 HP, normally seats a single person/driver like a driver of a motorcycle, normally without a roll cage, and normally is geared to a lower speeds than the typical go-kart. They typically have engines of about 20 HP with a displacement from 200 to 300 cc. A typical ATV is sold by Baja Motorsports® under the name of “Camo 250 ATV” by Pep Boys Auto. It has a 250 cc 4 cycle engine of about 14 HP. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,382,196 and 6,626,260 disclose an ATV.
Another style of recreational vehicle is the off-road utility vehicle. These are typically a larger version of the ATV and can normally seat two persons in car-like seats and also have roll cages with body covering. The engines range up to a 40 HP version, and single cylinder engines. Two examples of the off-road utility vehicles are sold by Yamaha® as the “Rhino”® and Polaris® as the “Ranger”®. These vehicles have engines of about 40 HP in the range of 700 cc and have a maximum speed up to about 50 MPH and may be two or four-wheel drive depending on the models. See U.S. Pat. No. 8,382,125, for example.
Off-road vehicles, normally two wheel driven, used as sand dune buggies typically have much larger engines such as the VW engine, 1.6 to 2.0 liters, of about 200 HP, and even larger V-6 and V-8 car engines for pushing performance to the limit in this unique environment. These types of engines have their limitations in this environment also. The VW bug engine is hard to modify to obtain higher horse power, higher torque output, and the car engines being water cooled have heating problems and are also not fuel efficient in the desert environment. Several examples of these vehicles are available. A much smaller version of this type of vehicle is the “Dune 250 Go-Kart” sold by Baja Motorsports® through Pep Boys Auto®. U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,713, issued to Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, discloses a two-wheel drive vehicle having a rear-mounted water-cooled engine. The frame is of tubular construction with an integral roll cage for two persons. A military version of the sand dune buggy is called the “Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV)” and built by Chenowth Racing Products, Inc. It further employs a VW engine of about 200 HP. Although it was used for a short time by the military, it disadvantages caused it to be replaced with the HMMWVs, “Hummers,” by the regular U.S. Army. A newer version of the DPV called the Light Strike Vehicle has been used by the special forces, but still has many disadvantages such as the lack of armor to even small arms fire. In order to avoid several problems associated with the use of car engines in dune buggies, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,172 discloses the use of an adaptor plate wherein a motorcycle engine may replace the typical VW bug engine and drive the VW transaxle device, two wheel drive, that is used on these dune buggies.
All of the above references are incorporated by reference.
The above vehicles although providing some positive features fail to address the need for a new class of vehicle for off-road use.
Accordingly, there is an established need for an off-road vehicle having four-wheel drive that provides a high power engine without the disadvantages of the above vehicles.